It was only afterwards that I realized I was part of an historic event – Jalometalli´s last time at Club Teatria. The reasons why a bit later – fist I have to admit I felt lucky to be part of it anyway, mainly because finding a cheap flight (about 1h), as by car/bus/train it would take 9-10h to get to Oulu. This year´s ”precious metal” festival is crowned by a special jewel in the line-up, namely Slayer…

Interactive photo gallery at the bottom
My last visit has been a time ago, and back then there were only two stages, a small one in the yard and the bigger one inside. This year it´s three stages – two of them played simultaneously – and one woman… still I managed to catch a glimpse/snapshot of every band on the first day. Teatria isn´t that big… yet some newly erected apartment buildings nearby are the reason why Jalometalli has to find a new home. Although some neighbours enjoyed the free view from their balcony to the main stage in the yard, I suspect the majority doesn´t really like Metal … What a pity, because I like this location a lot.

Friday 9th of August
What I like about Jalometalli and Oulu – the people I usually meet there, which adds to the familial atmosphere. The weather was a bit of a problem, though, sinister clouds released a few drops exactly when the first time started to play. Just enough to make me nervous and to ponder whether to risk damaging my camera for a few shots or not. Luckily my disposable raincoat provided a solution.

Impaled Nazarene
Yet when it comes to the band on stage, those sinister clouds were a perfect fit. With the “Suomi Finland Perkele” battle cry frontman Mika Luttinen opened the best-of program covering the band´s back catalogue, which naturally contained Let´s Fucking Die and Weapons to Tame A Land. The quite big audience cheered to the statements, grimaces and evil outbursts of this “Minister of Sexual Perversions”at the microphone, and even the clouds got scared and vanished.

Altair
What a contrast inside – pretty much total emptiness, which surprised me, as those Swedes should fit the bill with their Old School Thrash mixed with Gothenburg sound / Melodic Groove. When they warned the ladies of the Icecream Man, me lady fled to the third stage on the other side of the Teatria building, where

Ravage Machinery played some Old School Death / Grind. Unfortunately this style is not quite my thing, so I went back to Altair…
… only to discover that somehow the band couldn´t get it going, even when they played the WASP Cover Wanna be Somebody (a bit faster than the original). What a pity, I also had expected more of this band than ”just” an apt show.

Aborted
had attracted a higher level of humidity, besides the big crowd – therefore I withdrew quickly from the photo pit. Luckily this should be the last time I had to worry about my camera this day…

The Belgians played their very first Finland gig and started with a promising mix of Grind, Doom, Prog and Metalcore – and the whole show remains on an experimental level. What a crazy act, the singer Sven De Caluwe reminded me a bit of Meshuggah´s Jens – voice, poses and the facial insane-psychopath-expression. And then his announcements… they offered songs about “bashing Hippie skulls” or“making lamp shades out of penis foreskins”.. not only because of that a remarkable act!

Lost Society
I had heard a lot about this band, but haven´t seen them yet – so I was curious. Quite a crowd was already waiting for those young Finns and created an enthusiastic mood before the show. When the band finally started – gee, what did they have for breakfast, rocket fuel? Imagine Metallica´s Whiplash, twice as fast, and continuing non-stop for about an hour – just to imagine what it felt like… therefore in between I had to take a breath outside and checked out

Clock Paradox
as their grooving Melo-Death seemed to be the right remedy to calm down a bit.
Back inside, the hyperactive Lost Society musicians didn´t show any signs of fatigue, and admittedly you cannot remain unimpressed by their fun, skill and superfast sound. Moreover, with N.W.L. (Naked Wasted Lost) they basically created the motto of this evening…

3 Inches of Blood
were yet another band who celebrated their Finland premiere at Jalometalli, presenting their traditional Metal / Power Metal, which occasionally drifts off to Speed-Thrash. A skilled singer like Cam Pipes can afford to quote Dio and Heaven&Hell… The Canadians appealed a lot to the audience, although the majority enjoyed it from the beer zone. Still all the Metal Women as well as the Night Marauders present cheered to this show so enthusiastically that the band promised to return soon.

Hobbs Angel Of Death
celebrated their Finland-first, too, and many fans had gathered to cheer to songs that would probably not quite appeal to Christians a lot. Besides the stage decoration, there were song titles like Satan´s Crusade, Heaven Bleed Off and this one about “motherf*** Christ” (Crucifixion). The high aggression-leven Thrash of this Australian act was definitely the right warm-up for the band to appear on the main stage next, as well as the sound on the third stage outside by Finnish Thrash/Black Metallers

Vorum – yet their groove seemed a bit more headbanger-friendly, as well as their rather epic songs – well, in comparison with those Australians.
In the area as well as in some bars in the city, the visit of those US Thrash legends had been the reason to add Slayer wine to the menue – I could not resist to give it a try, too, and yes, it was worth it. Had to wait a long time, though – long queues everywhere, so I could already guess that this day would almost pass the ”sold out” mark. You could hardly spot the fence between the beer zone and the pit any more…

Slayer
Well, what to write about such a legendary band? Maybe that such a more intimate festival offers the rare occasion to be indeed close to Slayer; that they started punctually and you never heard anything of rock-star (mis) behaviour, that sound, light and show were flawless, as well as the setlist.

Maybe it´s worth to mention that the gentlemen Araya, King, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt have matured and paid tribute to the loss of a band member (Jeff Hanneman backdrop). What struck me the most was Tom Araya presenting himself as humble human being in his rare announcements, which were the more touching. He thanked the fans very often (Thank you very much for coming, whithout you we would have lasted through the years). His famous question “do you wanna die” (introducing Postmortem) provoked many ”yes” shouts, to which he replied “Why? Death happens – nobody wants to die”.

And this is basically all I could write – it was an incredible show, and I was happy to witness it. The band seemed to have fun, too, as I captured Mr. Araya with a big smile even more than once.
By the way: Check Jalometalli-Facebook page, there are several Live-Clips.
Setlist: World Painted Blood, Disciple, War Ensemble, Hallowed Point, At Dawn They Sleep, Mandatory Suicide, Chemical Warfare, Altar of Sacrifice, Jesus Saves, Postmortem, Snuff, Hate Worldwide, Seasons in the Abyss, Hell Awaits, Dead Skin Mask, Raining Blood Encore: South of Heaven / Angel of Death

Orange Goblin (UK)
What a surprise – I could not have imagined that after Slayer a band still succeeds in firing up the audience once more, but this Psychedelic / Stoner / Doom Rock was exactly the right sound to round up day 1 of this festival. A lot of people still didn´t want to go home, and I finally had the chance to drop my duties (and my photo bag) to indulge myself in debauchery and headbanging, enjoying songs like Filthy & the Few, Cities of Frost or this sing-along (persistent) ear candy Some you to win, some you lose. GREAT, wanna see this band again soon!
Therefore, pumped up with adrenaline and still full of energy, I simply could not go to the hotel yet but joined the official Jalometalli-afterparty at Nuclear Nightclub …

Saturday 10th of August
Luckily weather forecasts had been all wrong, bright sunshine instead of heavy rain all day. Good for me and my camera… The afterparty feat. Lost Society – in person and when it comes to ”wasted” – was followed by a day under the banner of Tankard – “The Morning After” … well at least I can claim that I was still punctually at the area when the first band entered the stage – in contrast to many, many others…

National Napalm Syndicate
had no easy stand, due to the maybe 2 dozen people present, and only a few of those found the strength to cheer to the Finnish band. This was the first veteran act of the day celebrating Old School Thrash, and naturally in a quite entertaining manner. “Determination” and other classics managed to fire up a tired crowd, which luckily increased with every minute.

Archgoat
Stage design, the band name – it was pretty obvious that this Finnish band would celebrate Old School Black Metal – bingo! BM occasionally evil blast-beating, occasionally grooving in Doom-manner – therefore I checked the third stage option.Nistikko
from Rovaniemi had won the Jalometalli band competition and this festival slot and performed in Hardcore/Metalcore style, featuring two hyperactive frontmen who also used the boxes as climbing toys.

Yet both acts left me a bit clueless, simply not my cup of tea. Therefore I decided to enjoy some coffee and sunshine in the VIP area before the next band appears on the main stage.

Holy Moses
The German Old School Thrash legends appeared once again at Jalometalli. Front lady Sabina Classen was in great mood and top form, posing, banging and growling like hell, created her own personal one-woman moshpit on stage or she fired up the crowd to some moshing action. You could almost believe her when she claimed she had only been 5 years old when the World Chaos album came out in 1990 …

They don´t have a new album out at the moment – besides the double CD celebrating the 30th anniversary from 2012 – but the fans enjoyed classics like Master Of Disaster, Welcome to The Real World or Lost in The Maze. A remarkable fact: most of those in the mosh pits have not even been born yet when legendary albums like The New Machine Of Liechtenstein or Reborn Dogs had come out…
Unfortunately I was not present any more when Tankard´s Gerre was dragged on stage for the encore (I suppose it was Too Drunk To Fuck), as I was hurrying to my interview appointment with the very person just mentioned (soon to be found at STALKER.cd). For the same reason I missed Deathchain – who filled the slot at short notice after D.R.I. had cancelled – and Akma.

Tankard
The Simon und Garfunkel Intro made the audience go nuts – thus I was not the only one who had been looking forward to see those German fun-Thrashers. Surprisingly they started with classics like Zombie Attack and my fave The Morning After. Gerre showed off as hyperactive-crazy front man once again, competing with Basser Frank in a ”grimacing contest” (see our “1000 faces” gallery on Facebook).

It´s hard to believe that this band is in their 31st year now – the new album was featured with Not One Day Dead and also the persistent ear candy-title track A Girl Called Cerveza, for which a female fan was invited on stage. Whether she enjoyed getting so close to mega-sexy Gerre is difficult to say from the distance… Moshpits were active throughout the show, inspired by hits like Die with a Beer in Your Hand (the reason why Gerre claimed that Tankard is ”the only true German Black Metal band”), Rules Are For Fools (which he dedicated to the strict alcohol and nicotine rules in Finland), Chemical Invasion (feat. Sabina Classen before Gerre carried her off stage) or Stay Thirsty.

The music, the fun and non-stop action, also Gerre´s Finnish skills (u.a. Kiitos – thanks, kippis – cheers) appealed to the crowd a lot, and Empty Tankard ended a gig that felt way too short. Hopefully those guys will be visiting Finland very soon again…

Naglfar
from Sweden started with an atmpshperic epic Intro, yet continued with rather traditonal Black Metal. And traditionally I haven´t got much to say to that. Sound, outfits and stageshow (mega-evil) worked together nicely and appealed a lot to the massive fan crowd.

Vermivore
rather continued the focus on Thrash sound of this evening which I liked better, therefore I stayed a while to watch them.

Blasphemy
Waiting for almost 30min to enter the photo pit (a colleague even postponed his visit to WC) somehow raises the level of frustration a bit… how about informing us that the band simply starts a bit later, as they perform a 1h program only? The Canadians played their only gig in Europe here at this festival, no wonder that the fan crowd went bonkers. Well, for me it was Old School Black Metal again, a genre I find very difficult to write about.

Voivod
Canada once again, yet this time this music was much more to my taste. Not only because also this legendary veteran band celebrates a 30year+ anniversary, but also the genre – Thrash/Progto Cyberpunk. Admittedly, I have always found their albums a bit too far out being able to listen to them in one go – for example the most recent output Target Earth. But live they are an absolute treat. The lights, the sound shifting between brutal and (freakishly) melodious, even Jazz elements are added – and somehow it´s always having this highly inconventional atmosphere – and then the crazy stage show… The guitar fight of those guys rather looked like two stags attacking each other during mating season. You simply should not miss that.

Singer Snake communicated with the audience not only vocally but also with gestures and facial expressions, and he had also adopted some Finnish for toasting. Indeed it was the band´s second Jalometalli after their visit in 2009, and also this time they spared no efforts: ” no sleep for days 4 days, we give everything we have for you”. What a likeable act, without airs or graces…
the fans thanked in their own way with massive mosh pits and VoiVod chanting. Naturally they started with new songs, e.g. the new album´s title track, but played a selection of classics that showed their roots in Thrash-Metal. They ended the official part of the set with Forgotten in Space from the Killing Technology CD, but then they returned, inspiring the audience to sing along with the Voivod hymn, which ended Jalometalli festival this year fabulously.

Resume: A fantastic festival where basically everything is working nicely – well, the beer prices were on Helsinki-inner-city level, the only thing one perhaps might complain about. Good luck for the future Jalometalli in another area, and hopefully CU again soon!

photos: K. Weber

Related

Klaudia Weber

reckless and merciless dictator, so KNEEL!
In other words, editor-in-chief, translator, website and ad admin, "Jane of all trades" - - -
addicted to books (everything between Lord Of The Rings & quantum physics) and music, mainly Metal made in Finland. Furthermore, there's painting, drawing, movies, theater... so you can expect some variety on this website too.